Learning To Fly
by Michoou
Summary: Emily, an average girl, gets pulled into the life of the Hoovers. As Dwayne and Emily get to know each other in the time leading up to the Little Miss Sunshine pageant, it seems their friendship could turn into something more but then Dwayne's father shows up and his whole life is turned upside down… DwaynexOC
1. Prologue

**Hi there! I mainly decided to write this cause the Little Miss Sunshine section is so lonely. C'mon it's such a GREAT movie!**

**Anyways, enjoy!**

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**PROLOGUE**

_Dwayne POV_

Mom came into my room before bed that night. I ignored her while I watched as I made my toy airplane swoop around my head. I gently held onto its glossy painted body, not wanting to break my favourite toy. I knew that one day I would be up in the sky flying a real plane myself.

"Dwayne…" my mother began. "I have something very important to discuss with you."

Her voice was shaking. Taking a deep breath she continued:  
"Your father and I… are getting a divorce."

I looked at my mom with a confused expression. It wasn't that I do not understand what happens when people get divorced, it was just that I never thought it could actually happen. Well not in my family anyways. I guess looking back on it we weren't exactly the perfect, happy family my parents bickered often enough but they always took me for ice cream on the weekends. What more could a nine year old want?

I loved both my parents, especially my dad. He could be a bit of a bully sometimes but he loved that I wanted to fly. Both my parents were supportive of this, though my dad was the one who always bought me everything airplane related that I wanted.

"Dwayne, I know this hard for you to hear," my mother interrupted my thoughts. "But it's for the best. You and I are going to be moving to New Mexico since I got a job there. We'll be leaving in a couple days."

She kissed me on the forehead as she tucked me into bed. I could swear there were tears in her eyes as she said goodnight and left the room.

My dad ended up staying behind in Florida, while mom and I left for a new life. Dad phoned often at first, and even came to visit a couple times. I think he wanted me to go back with him but I never begged my mom to let me go. Eventually though after a couple months the phone calls had stopped almost completely and by the time my mom met Richard, I hadn't heard from dad for ages.

Then mom and Richard got married, the worst day of my life. Olive came along – she wasn't all that bad. But all in all, life sucked.

Before the divorce, I always loved my family and thought it was the best thing in the world but now I hate them almost more than anything.

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**Thanks for reading! I would love it if you took the time to review :)**

**Even though this is from Dwayne's POV most of the story will be from my OC's POV, except for the occasional Dwayne chapter**

**Also if there are any errors that have to do with details from the original movie, sorry about that since I haven't seen the movie in the while. I can't seem to find my DVD**


	2. Point Me In The Direction of Albuquerque

**CHAPTER 1: Point Me In The Direction of Albuquerque**

_Emily's POV_**  
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I watched the dusty fields and red mountains roll by as we drove to our new house. I was sad. I wasn't usually the emotional type but right now I was listening to The Beatles song _In My Life_, which I guess wasn't the best idea. I was also nervous about staring my life over again. I have moved before. I was born in Oregon and lived there for quite a few years, then we moved Ohio for a couple years and finally settled in New York when I started grade six.

We had lived in the state ever since, and now I was going to be starting my junior year in Albuquerque. Even though I was leaving everything I had come to know behind, I was still looking forwards to making new friends, and wondering what my neighbours would be like.

We finally turned off the highway and I watched as Albuquerque formed around me. I had never lived in the South before so I looking forwards to that at least.

"This is it," my dad said when we finally pulled up to the house. It was just my mother, father and I, though I wasn't an only child. My old brother had moved out a few years ago, and was living in Tennessee at the moment playing with his rock band. It was due to him that I got my great taste in music.

I looked through the car window to inspect our new house. It was a bungalow, like the rest of the homes on the street but even so it still looked to be large and spacious. I glanced over to our neighbours on one side. There didn't look to be anyone home or anything exciting about the house so I looked at our neighbours' house on the other side. There was a scooter left on the lawn that had pink ribbons attached to the handles. The house seemed to have a disheveled yet homey feel to it.

Looking back to my own new home, it loomed ominously in front of me. I grabbed my bag from the car and trudged up the front steps. I wandered through the front entrance and decided to explore the new house.

There was a long corridor facing me. To the right when you first came in there was a doorway to what looked like it would be the living room, this led into the dinning room which was divided from the kitchen by a low wall, so that you could still see in. Outback you could see what looked to be a small back yard with green, mowed grass.

Back in the corridor the first doorway led to what looked like it would be the guest room, since there were already some labeled boxes in there. Next there was a short flight of stairs. This led up to a small second story loft with a bathroom that was my parents' suite. Back on the main floor there was another bathroom and then at the very end of the corridor was what looked to be my room.

It wasn't very large, definitely not like my old room in our house in New York. I decided I'd try and make myself at home anyways and wait for the movers to arrive.

Later that evening I was sitting out of the front steps after dinner watching the sun begin to set by the mountains out in the distance, when I heard a voice for the house next door.

"Mom can I _please _go over and say hi?" a little girl whined. "You said we could go over when the movers were gone and they finished dinner!"  
"Yes sure Olive, but only a quick hello," replied the girl's mother.

The little girl raced down their front steps towards me. She reached me and stopped almost in my face.

"Hi! My name's Olive!" she said with lots of enthusiasm.

"Hi Olive," I smiled. "My name is Emily, it's very nice to meet you."  
Her mother reached us and introduced herself as well.

"I had hoped to wait for a more formal introduction," the mother, Sheryl, said. "But I guess we can introduce the rest of the family tomorrow anyways."

We talked briefly and then Sheryl ushered Olive home.

They seemed to be nice, which was good. I was happy that I would have nice neighbours. I was mainly scared about having to start school in a few days.

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**Thanks once again for reading! It would be great if you could take a second to review! It doesn't take long, trust me :)**

**What does everyone think of the story so far?**

**It's going to pick up more within the next few chapters, this is just all intro stuff so you get to know the characters and stuff **


	3. The New Girl

**CHAPTER 2: THE NEW GIRL**

The next day I spent unpacking but it was still next to impossible to find anything. This was going to take ages to put the house together.

In my room the old owners of the house had left a mirror on the wall. It was old fashioned with a fancy frame that was painted gold. I liked it though so decided to keep it up on the wall. I looked into the mirror and peered at myself. I had plain mousey-brown hair that was thick and straight. My eyes were a sparkling hazel and my skin a pale tone but not ghostly white. I'd always thought that I had very average looks and that there was nothing special about me.

There was a knock on the door that afternoon.

"Emily," my mom called. "The neighbours are here."

I straightened myself out and trotted to the front of the house. Standing on the front porch was a cluster of people.

Olive was at the very front and beaming. When she saw me she called out my name. From there she introduced me to everyone.

First Richard, her father, said hello and shook my hand. Then onto Dwayne, who only nodded slightly.

"He's taking a vow of silence," Sheryl explained.

Sheryl invited my family over for dinner but my parents politely declined and went inside. They were nice enough people but usually just kept to themselves. I wasn't very close with them anymore since they spent a lot of time working and usually liked it when I was out of their hair, now that I was older and could take care of myself. They didn't care much about what I did it seemed, but even so we all still loved and supported each other.

I jumped at the chance to get out of the house for the night, especially since we would be having left over take out from the night before. The Hoovers invited me to come over in a couple hours.

I walked up the front steps of the Hoover's house to knock on the door. Almost instantly Olive answered and announced to the whole house that I was here.

Olive was super excited and really wanted to show me her room while we waited for dinner to be ready. Her bedroom floor was covered in toys, books and pieces of costumes. She showed me her favourites of each. She also told me that she loved dancing and entering beauty pageants.

Inwardly I cringed at this. I never liked pageants. I had had friends back in New York and where I had lived before too, though I was never considered "popular" either. The girls who competed in pageants had always liked to torment me.

I feigned interest anyways. That was the only thing I didn't like about Olive though, otherwise she was an adorable kid. She even asked me to be her friend, which I of course answered yes to. She was so sweet!

Finally dinner was ready and we went out the dinning room.

"Sorry dinner isn't better, I hope your fine with the chicken we ordered," apologized Sheryl.

"It's fine! It's much better than what I would have been eating at home," I responded. "Probably left overs from the take-out we had last night. Though they'd probably be cold since we can't get anything to work in that house yet."

We started to eat, with all eyes on me. Richard began with the questions:

"So what do your parents do for a living?"

"My father's an engineer, and my mom's a journalist. It means they're working most of the time and since my mom went back to working full-time I haven't spent much time with them," I explained. "They are still really great people but we just aren't very close."

"Aww that's too bad. Well do you have any brothers or sisters?" Sheryl asked.

"I do have an older brother but he's twenty-five so he has already moved out."

"And what is he up to?" one of the grown-ups asked.

"He lives in Nashville," I said proudly. "He's a musician. His band is actually really good, they've toured quite a bit."

"There's a good example of the nine steps," Richard said to many groans.  
I then got asked about what kind of music they played, and told them he was in an alternative rock band. This led to Sheryl talking about how Dwayne wants to be in the air force and that was why he was doing the vow of silence. He stirred uncomfortably during this and glared at me through he black hair. Olive thought it was the coolest thing that my brother was in a rock band and wanted him to write a song for her.

"We'll see about that," I smiled at her.

The conversation moved on as they asked me about where I had lived and other things about my life. Richard also explained his nine steps motivational speaking project that he had just began work on. When everyone was finishing up their food, we got onto the inevitable topic of school. Richard asked me what courses I was going to take and Sheryl told me a bit about the school.

"You'll be in the same grade as Dwayne," she said while I helped her to clear the table. "He can look out for you on the first day of school."

From his behavior at dinner though, we all knew that wasn't going to happen.

At the end of the evening when I said goodbye to the Hoovers and thanked them for dinner, I thought about what a lovely bunch of people, especially Olive and Sheryl, they were that lived next door and that I hoped to get to know them better in the future.

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**Thank you for reading! It would be greatly appreciated if you took the time to review :)**


	4. School

**CHAPTER 3: School**

_A few days later…_

Today was my first day of school. I was so scared to walk through the big double doors and get lost in the crowd of students. Plus everyone in my grade would already be accustomed to the school, so I would probably get mistaken for a freshman. Just great.

I had gone by the school the day before to get my schedule, lock and locker number from the principle.

As I made my way to my first class, I saw Dwayne Hoover at his locker. I changed my path to go say hi but as soon as he saw me coming his way, his eyes hardened then he slammed his locker door and stormed off into the crowd.

I guess I shouldn't have thought that a person who doesn't even talk would be much of a friend.

The morning was uneventful, mostly people just gawking at me because I was a new face. Not many people were brave enough to approach me yet or talk much when I said hi, which was rather lonely.

At lunch I had no idea where to sit so I decided I would go outside into the courtyard. It was mainly lowerclassmen there but at least I could get some fresh air.

I made my way over to what I thought was an empty corner when I saw Dwayne there. I hesitated but then continued on my way. If he was going to be rude again, well that was his loss. Anyways what use was a mute as a friend.

I sat down beside him and began to unpack my sandwich I had brought for lunch.

"Hi," I said cooly.

No answer. He just kept staring straight ahead, what a surprise. Well at least he didn't get up and leave. Yet.

I dug into my sandwich beside the silent boy. Dwayne was nibbling away at an apple while reading a large hardcover book with the name "Friedrich Nietzsche" plastered on the front. I asked him who the guy was but again received no response.

I finished my lunch without a single acknowledgement from Dwayne.

This continued on for the next few weeks. I would go and sit in the corner with Dwayne and we would eat in silence. I had begun to doubt that he even noticed me there.

By this time I had made friends at school, actually quite a lot. I even hung out on weekends with people and went out afterschool. I guess you could say I could almost be considered popular here but I still don't why I enjoyed spending my lunches in (almost) solitude.

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**So I guess I've kinda made Emily into a bit of a sassy character. Well we'll just have to see how that goes. **

**If you've taken the time to read my story, I'd love for you to give me a review!**

**I would love to have at least one review before I upload the next chapter haha. I don't like how lonely this category is. **

**Hopefully this happens soon! The ideas are just flying off of my head for this story :)**

**Also should I change the name of the story to "Keep Talking"? It seems Emily is turning into quite the talkative character eh? But I guess it's to fill in for Dwayne not speaking. So maybe it's just around Dwayne..**


	5. Not Alone Any More

**Hey everyone! So this chapter is kinda short since it's essentially just a monologue from Dwayne but I thought it'd be good to get to know his thoughts so far in the story. **

**Also guess what movie I watched today? Little Miss Sunshine, finally found the DVD so now my memory is refreshed. Enjoy! :)**

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**CHAPTER 4: Not Alone Any More**

_Dwayne's POV_

Why can't that stupid girl just leave me alone? Did I not make it obvious enough to her when she was over for dinner that I did not want to interact with her? She still has the nerve to come sit with me at lunch. I thought she had actually made other friends at this school.

Also she talks so much. Well I guess not that much but for someone who doesn't talk, then anything is a lot in comparison. And she likes my stupid family too. I can't bare any of them, except for Olive, she's alright.

Well here she comes again, my couple minutes of solitude at the beginning of lunch are up. I guess I have to admit that it's not that bad sitting with her at lunch since after the first couple times she gave up on talking to me, so we both end of sitting in silence, encompassed in our own thoughts. She's nice enough too, especially to Olive. She has been over to our place again a couple times, on Olive's request but I always just retreat into my room not wanting to deal with her.

Now that I think about it, maybe it's not so bad having a friend to eat lunch with. She's not exactly a friend though, more of an acquaintance. I guess there might be some hope for humanity.

Since I am currently on a better note, I decide to smile ever so slightly at her. She returns with her own soft smile, and then lunch is back to normal except there doesn't feel like there is a wall between the two of us.

I still do not understand why she sits with me though. She has lots of new friends, and she's pretty. Shit. Why am I thinking like that now? I can't look at girls that way cause even if I did like them, it's not like someone would ever reciprocate the same feelings towards me.

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**Thanks for reading! Hope you liked this chapter. It would be great if you could let me know what you think of the story so far in a review :)**


	6. Sundown

**Thanks to those who have read this story so far! I really, really appreciate it :)**

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**CHAPTER 5: Sundown**

_Emily's POV_

I unpacked the last box of my stuff and was finally able to find my art supplies. They weren't much, just a set of pencil crayons, a couple pencils and a notebook.

My parents had never really supported my artistic endeavors a great deal. They had bought the pencil crayons as a gift for me but after that they had put their foot down.

I had on one of my brother's old band t-shirts and a tattered pair of jeans. I had been anxious to find my notebook so that I could draw one of the beautiful New Mexico sunsets.

They were so much more beautiful than the ones in New York, with the red sun disappearing behind the mountains. I had been itching to try and capture the colours.

I went and sat out on the front porch with my small notebook nestled between my knees. I started to use my coloured pencils to the best of my abilities. I heard the door open next door.

Olive came outside to pick up some of her toys she had left out.

"Hi Emily!" she called when she saw me.

"Hey Olive," I replied while I put down my pencils and tucked my notebook under my arm.

"Emily," she said excitedly. "My grandpa's come to live with us! You have to come meet him. He's the best."

"Sure," I agreed and followed Olive into the Hoover house.

I had no idea what to expect while Olive towed me into the living room.

Inside, Dwayne was in there sitting in a chair reading his Nietzsche book, probably ordered to be polite to his grandfather and "spend time" with him.

On the couch was an old man who was wearing outdated clothing.

"Grandpa this is my friend, Emily. She lives next door," Olive introduced me.

"Hi there," he said, then he turned to Dwayne. "See kid, there's a girl you can get some with."

Dwayne's ears began to redden and he buried his head further into his book, trying to block out the world. Which didn't seem like quite a bad idea to me at the moment. This was a very… _interesting_ introduction to say the least.

"That goddamn Sunset Manor had to go and kick me out when I gave them my damn money. Now I'm stuck living out my days on this couch."

Olive had left the room to go put away her toys.

"That's too bad," I said trying to be polite. "Why did they do that?"

"Cause I was snortin' heroin for fucksake. Now I don't say you go doing that stuff at your age but when you're old you do whatever the fuck you want y'hear?"

I just nodded my head uncomfortably, while Olive came back into the room. She asked me if I wanted to come help her pick out a costume for her upcoming pageant which I agreed to, happy for the excuse to leave her grandfather behind.

When I was leaving later that evening I passed Dwayne on the way to his room. He gave a slight nod towards me. I nodded back. This was second time today he had bothered to actually acknowledge me, the first being at lunch. I was starting to get confused by him.

The next day at school when I arrived at my usual spot for lunch and unpacked my regular sandwich, Dwayne pulled out his notepad. He scribbled something that passed it over for me to read:

_Sorry about last night_

_He's always like that._

"No problem," I replied softly.

We exchanged a short glance and then went back to our normal lunchtime routine of ignoring each other.

The day after at lunch when I was approaching, Dwayne actually looked up. I decided to give a small wave, which he returned with an even smaller wave.

He was really starting to surprise me. Maybe he wasn't such a complete rude, jerk after all.

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**Thanks again for reading! And thank you to those who put alerts or favourited this story! :)**

**All I'm missing is a review now haha. But if you could take the time to let me know what you think so far that would be really helpful!**


	7. Things Ain't Like They Used To Be

**First things first. I just wanted to say a HUGE thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read this story! Secondly thank you to my first reviewer! I really, really appreciated it :)**

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**CHAPTER 6: Things Ain't Like They Used To Be**

_Several months later…_

I was invited over to the Hoovers' for dinner, a usual happening since it was practically my second home. Even if I was not eating dinner there I would stop by afterwards to hang out. When I arrived at my neighbours' Dwayne surprisingly answered the door.

Our eyes met, and a faint smile danced on his lips while his eyes softened from their usual cold glare. I smiled a small smile in return and entered the house.

I guess you could say we were friends but then again not really. We didn't know too much about each other besides what we learned during discussions at the Hoover dinner table.

It was mainly we just actually _enjoyed_ each other's silent company now. I would still occasionally voice my thoughts on something but otherwise I didn't find too much of a need to talk around him. It kind of got awkward if I did try to hold a conversation since I never received much of a response.

Olive ran up and said she wanted to show me her dance studio in the basement but we were stopped since dinner was ready.

Dinner was the typical Hoover affair. Edwin made some inappropriate comments, which Olive was luckily oblivious to. Richard had to throw in references to his "Nine Steps" program, which was apparently coming along nicely according to him. Sheryl got offended when someone asked her how quitting smoking was going for her, saying that she was doing great with it, when almost everyone knew that wasn't the truth at all. Dwayne was of course as silent as ever.

After dinner, Olive took me to the basement to show me the studio she had set up (mainly just clearing away toys on the floor to the sides of the room) to practice for pageants.

She eventually shooed me out though, saying that she had to practice for an upcoming contest that she would be competing in when she was visiting her cousins next week. She didn't want me to distract her.

I didn't feel like going home yet so I decided I would go say hi to Dwayne.

I knocked politely on his door before entering. He was lying on his bed, reading. He didn't seem that bothered that I was in his bedroom.

I looked around since I had never seen much of his room before. The walls were plastered with posters of airplanes.

It was a while before I broke the silence.

"I really admire you're passion Dwayne. You know what you love and you're driven by that. That's really special," I smile. "I don't have anything like that, I'm such a plain person. I mean I love drawing but it's nothing special."

He nodded his thanks.

I sat down on the floor with my back against his bed, still taking in all the decorations scattered around his room.

A while later I heard him scribbling on his pad. He tapped me on the shoulder with it. I gently took the paper in my hand and read:

_You're cool._

"Thanks," I simply said in reply. He scribbled some more again.  
_You're better than my family_

_ You actually understand_

I nodded my thanks. He got up off his bed and came to sit beside me.

It was then that I figure we became real friends because we finally understood each other. The rest of the evening we sat in silence together, with me only asking him the occasional question he could answer with either a nod or shake of the head.

Eventually I found out that his parents were divorced.

I had noticed that whenever he talked, or should I say wrote, about his family he referred to Richard by his name instead of "dad".

I had asked him why, leading to him simply writing that his parents had divorced back when he was in elementary school.

I was not very close with my own parents but I could never imagine them being divorced.

Dwayne told me his father still lived in Florida, that he knew of. He had heard almost nothing from him in the last few years, only the occasional short email or phone call. He had even begun to forget Dwayne's birthday.

I felt bad for Dwayne. This was all beginning to make a lot more sense. Having your parents separate and then move to another state only to barely see your father. Only to then have your mother marry a jerk. I would hate that to happen.

I read his responses in silence. When I finished I noticed him watching me, probably waiting for my reaction. I gave him a warm smile; I knew nothing more was needed.

We sat in silence until I had to leave. Right when I was getting up to leave, Dwayne shoved his notepad in my face. I stopped to see what he had wrote

_Thanks_

_I've never talked to anyone about that_

I just smiled again in return, while Dwayne showed me out of the house. I was beginning to feel a deeper connection with this boy. Maybe you didn't have to be able to talk to be friends after all.

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**Thanks again for reading! Please take the time to review! It would help me out so much :)**

******This chapter is longer than the last couple and they will probably increase a bit in length once the story picks up more since I will have more to work with**


	8. Best Friend

**A big thank you again to everyone who is reading this! And an even bigger thank you to those who have taken the time to review and favourite/alert this story! :) **** Enjoy!**

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**CHAPTER 7: Best Friend**

_A few weeks later…_

I made my way over to the Hoover's residence this Friday afternoon but unlike usual I was nervous.

Today at lunch when I sat down next to Dwayne, he passed over his notepad to me. I took it gingerly, not expecting him to have something to say to me. I read what he had written:  
_Come over tonight_

_ I have something to show you_

I nodded in response, and we went back to our shared silence again.

I couldn't possibly believe that Dwayne actually wanted to show me something. Yes, we were friends and we spent time together but I never thought he would have something secret that he would want to share with me of all people. I'm only an outsider imposing on the lives of the Hoovers.

I had trouble figuring Dwayne out so this made me anxious around him half the time. The rest of the time I felt completely comfortable when I was in his presence. This was all just starting to get too complex.

Dwayne opened the door almost immediately after I knocked. Instead of inviting me in, he shut the door behind him and motioned for me to follow him. This was getting more strange by the minute.

We walked through the empty streets of our neighbourhood in silence until we reached the edge of it.

There were multiple sets of old, unused train tracks with a large, overgrown field on the other side. We crossed over the train tracks and entered the field.

After only a few minutes of walking, we reached an area where the tall grass had been cleared away and Dwayne flopped down on the ground. I guessed I was supposed to do the same, so I sat down carefully on the ground. I gazed around.

There was a perfect view of the vast field stretching out in front of us, and the mountains off behind that in the distance. Even so, we were still obscured from the houses at the end of the neighbourhood and any passersby. After a long while, I finally voiced my thoughts:

"So what is this place?"

Dwayne slipped his notepad out of his pocket and fumbled with it until he started scribbling his response to me.

_I come here every now and then_

_It's my spot to get away when I really need to_

…

_I thought you'd like it..._

I paused for a bit before saying anything. I was too overcome by a range of emotions. I was dumbfounded for one then confused and touched as well. But they all lead to one question: Why did Dwayne want to or care to show me this place?

"I actually love it," I replied cautiously, looking him directly in the eyes. He nodded back, his way of saying "I thought you would".

We sat together side by side in total silence, in the cool early summer breeze watching the sun set on the horizon. The only noise to interfere was the occasional birdcall and the subtle chirp of crickets. Once the sun was nearly set, we both got up and headed for home again.

When we returned back to our houses but instead of heading home I went to the Hoovers' since it wasn't late yet. Dwayne and I trekked into his room and made our selves comfortable on the floor.

I rummaged through my small leather satchel that I had brought with me, for my notebook and coloured pencils. I had already done a couple drawings of the sunset but I had wanted to try and capture the beautiful view from this evening while the image was still fresh in my mind. Dwayne was reading one of his Nietzsche books so I didn't feel rude doing this.

A while later I got up to get a glass of water, offering Dwayne as well though he declined. While in the kitchen, I got distracted by Olive who was sitting at the table eating a bowl of ice cream.

"What were you and Dwayne up to?" she questioned me.

"Oh nothing. We just went for a walk," I covered. I had a feeling that Dwayne wouldn't want to her to know about his hide out even though he still really cared for his younger sister. It seemed too private and personal that he would bother to share it with her.

"Are you and Dwayne best friends?"

I was a bit taken back by the question. I knew he was my friend and a close friend at that, because I had shared my fair amount of personal matters with him. I never took the time though to think about whether he was my new best friend here or if it was one of my many friends from school. Considering this though, the relationship between Dwayne and I was much more complicated than the simple definition of the term of best friends. Trying to avoid the question as much as I could, I gave Olive a relatively vague answer.

"You'll have to ask Dwayne that."

Wanting to get away from the uncomfortable questions that a young child can easily ask, I dashed into the kitchen to grab my glass of water. I went back down the hallway to Dwayne's door and nudged it open. After softly closing it behind me, I noticed Dwayne looking at a book that wasn't his philosophy one. Realizing in horror that it was my sketchbook, I put my glass of water down before I lunged forward to snatch it out of his hands.

I had never really shown anyone my drawings before and never intended on doing so in the future either. I enjoyed drawing but never thought my work was exceptional or deemed it good enough for other eyes to look at.

I attempted to wrestle the small black book out of his grasp but Dwayne was quite strong for such a lanky person. He was gentle with the book though and was only teasing me with his reluctance to hand it over. Finally I pulled it from his hands, causing me to loose my balance and fall forwards onto Dwayne who was sitting up against his bed.

My head was lying against his strong and firm chest, I giggled into it still caught up in the moment. His head came to rest on top of mine and we stayed like that for a second before we both jumped apart like we had been electrocuted.

We looked away from each other, though I could see that his cheeks were beginning to go pink just like my own.

We sat down again in our usual way with our backs leaning against his bed, though this time we were farther apart than usual. After about fifteen minutes or so Dwayne wrote something in his notepad for me.

_Your drawings are amazing Emily_

_You have talent_

I just shook my head.

"I'm able to catch the right colours sometimes but they really aren't any good."

He looked at me, shocked by my words and just shook his head back at me. I sighed and gave up. I was getting tired and didn't feel like trying to argue my case. I picked up one of Dwayne's philosophy books by Nietzsche and tried to read but I only succeeded with looking occupied, or at least attempted too. My brain couldn't process a single word I was reading. My brain was overwhelmed with thoughts and exhaustion.

Finally Sheryl came in to say it was getting late and that I should probably head home, though I was more than welcome to sleep over for the night as well. I smiled warmly at her. The Hoovers were such a warm and welcoming family, well except for Richard.

After Dwayne's mother left the room he quickly wrote something out for me to read.

_Come back tomorrow morning_

_I have an idea_

At home that night in bed, I tried to figure out what happened between Dwayne and I. Before I could get anywhere though exhaustion took over me and I fell asleep.

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**Thank you for reading! I hope you liked this chapter! Please let me know in a review or PM or whatever, I would LOVE to hear your opinions**

**The story is starting to pick up more so this chapter was lengthier and next one will probably be even longer! Anyways, thanks again and I hope to have the next chapter up either tomorrow or the day after :)**


	9. Can't Fight This Feeling

**Thank you so much again to everyone who has read this story! I hope you guys enjoy this chapter! I decided we should see what Dwayne thought of the last few events ;)**

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**CHAPTER 8: Can't Fight This Feeling**

_Dwayne's POV_

Last night mom and Richard got into a fight. Usually I was never bothered when they were arguing with each other since it never escalated to anything bad, they would just yell at each other. They of course tried to bicker as little as possible around Olive, so she was probably in the basement watching a Disney movie with grandpa when the argument broke out.

I did not even pay attention to what they were yelling about but I finally just got fed up with listening to them, so I quietly left my room and shut the front door behind me.

I headed towards the field behind the train tracks where I always went when I wanted to be completely alone. Soon after we had moved into the neighbourhood, I had discovered this field and realized no one used it. It was a perfect hideaway because nothing could bother me there. It was a great place to think.

I had cleared out some of the grass so that it would be more comfortable to sit. It was on the side of a hill so the grass behind was taller and obscured me from the houses far behind but I could still see into the empty valley with the forest and mountains beyond.

I flopped down on my back and stared up at the cloudless blue sky. I began to think since there was nothing there to distract me. I used to love it when I would hear mom and Richard fighting because I hoped she would divorce that asshole. It always made me sort of happy and it still did, but I was beginning to dislike it as well.

Well for one it's just plain annoying listening to adults fight about stupid things, and then there's Olive. As much as I hate Richard and want to get away from him, I didn't want Olive to go through a divorce like I did. I don't want her to end up like me.

I lay in the field until well after the sun had set when I got an idea. I was going to bring Emily here. I didn't exactly know why but it felt right. I hoped more than anything that she would like it.

When I came back home my mom rushed up to me and asked where I had been. I just shrugged and wrote:

_Walking_

That was my normal excuse and usually I wouldn't get interrogated further when I said this.

The next day at lunch when I sat down I instantly flipped out my notepad and wrote what I was going to tell Emily. I did this so I wouldn't loose my confidence when she came to sit with me. I was beginning to get nervous, mainly because I was worried she might not like my secret hideaway. But even with my doubts it still felt right.

At home that evening after dinner I sat in the living room casually looking out the front window waiting for Emily. She had agreed to come over at my request. When I saw her coming up our front steps, I bolted to the door after she had lightly knocked then stepped outside and shut it behind me.

I mainly did this because I didn't want to deal with my stupid family. They would interrogate us with their petty questions when this was a personal matter. Emily looked confused by my reaction but I just walked down the front steps and slightly waved with my hand for her to follow me.

I changed my pace to match hers as we walked side by side through the streets of our neighbourhood. Once we reached the field I took the lead and sat down in my hideout. Emily came into the clearing and gingerly sat cross-legged on the ground. She looked confused at first but her face lost the concern once she looked around.

I looked at her properly for the first time since we had met. Her long hair that was past her waist in length, danced slightly in the breeze and framed her face perfectly while her large eyes sparkled in the evening light. You couldn't deny it, she was beautiful.

I still never understood why she was friends with me though. I didn't speak and I was an outcast at school, while she had tons of friends at school. I also hadn't understood why she was able to get through to me when I had decided I didn't like her. She was nice but she wasn't different from all the other stupid people that I hated at school. She was friends with them, she wasn't ostracized like me so how was there a connection.

Maybe it was because she was not scared of me and did not think I was weird like everyone else at school. She realized that I was not some low life just because I did not speak. Before I could think further about this though she interrupted my thoughts.

"So what is this place?"

I was startled and fumbled while trying to get my notepad out. I wrote down my short description, mentioning at the end that I thought she would like it.

"I actually love it," she told me after reading my response. It made me so happy inside I could almost grin from ear to ear.

We sat in silence while the sun set. I looked over at Emily again. I had passed her off as someone who was like everyone else. She still was in way, she was not a social outcast like me. But there was still something deeper too her that not many people had, I could not figure out exactly what though.

You could tell she enjoyed watching the sunset so we stayed until the sun had almost disappeared behind the mountains. Back at home, we both sat on the floor of my bedroom as was usual when we spent time together. I pulled out the Nietzsche book I was reading at the moment while Emily began to draw in her notebook.

Eventually she got up to go get a glass of water. I continued to read my book for a while until something caught my eye. Sitting beside me was Emily's little black notebook that she had been drawing in. I was curious to see what her art was like so I put my book down and opened up the little book.

It flipped to a page that looked like she had been working on for a while recently. I briefly looked at the page before which was a sketch of a realistic boy. Upon closer inspection I realized it was probably her brother. I almost thought he was going to get up and walk off the page it was so good. Back on the page that I had originally opened to was a spectacular sunset. The colours were immaculate and detailed. The landscape meant that it was no doubt done from the front steps of her house. I couldn't believe how talented she was.

I was about to flip to the next page when Emily came into the room and lunged at me when she saw me holding her sketchbook. She attempted to wrestle the book out of my hands but I decided to be stubborn and hold onto it. I made sure to be gentle though so as not to destroy her work. Eventually she wrenched it out of my hands but tumbled forwards and came to rest with her head lying on my chest.

My heartbeat quickened as she nestled against me. Caught in the moment I leant my forwards slightly and rested my head against hers while I inhaled the soft, floral scent of her hair. Almost instantly though I realized what was happening and jumped away from her, as she did the same. I was embarrassed. I had never been that close to a girl before.

We sat down again, making sure to distance ourselves. I sat there thinking about Emily's art so I wrote to tell her it was amazing. Personally, I had never been able to do more than a stick figure. We had a short exchange then continued to sit in an awkward silence. She was looking at one my books trying to seem occupied but I could tell her thoughts were elsewhere. I felt different now when I looked at her but I could not figure out how, my thoughts were interrupted though when my mom entered the room to tell Emily it was getting late.

I suddenly had an idea and quickly wrote out on my notepad that Emily had to come over tomorrow morning. She agreed luckily. After she left I decided to get ready for bed since I knew I wouldn't be able to concentrate enough to read or do homework due to all the thoughts swirling around in my head.

Lying in bed that night I couldn't sleep. Before I had gone to bed, Olive had come in to say goodnight. She also asked me whether Emily and I were best friends. If she had asked me an hour or so earlier I would have been able to answer an easy yes. Emily had been the closest friend I had ever had. Now though, I honestly told Olive that I didn't know. I had no idea what Emily meant to me anymore, and me to her.

It had felt right, that moment between us when she was nestled into me and deep down I knew I wanted something like that to happen again. It also frightened me though since I had never felt anything like this before to another human being. I had never been proper friends with anyone either since elementary school. I hadn't become interested in girls until the end of middle school and by then I was considered a freak.

I got up out of bed and started pacing my room. I was frustrated, I couldn't think clearly or figure anything out. It was no use even if I did like Emily as more than friend. She wouldn't ever like a guy like me. Anyways I had heard the way other guys talked about her at school, in the locker rooms and the hallways, she was definitely popular with them. She was probably just being my friend out of pity more than anything. I was so full of rage that I punched the wall to try and release my feelings.

I finally came to the realization that I was falling for Emily, and in no way was I ready for this roller coaster of feelings.

The next morning when Emily came over, things carried on as they had for the last several months between us. I figured she had decided to forget what happened last night so I decided to do the same. I knew I wanted to do something about my feelings but now was not the time, so I pushed them away.

My idea for Emily had been to help me do a giant painting of Nietzsche for my wall. I had thought of something similar before but had never carried it out since I had no artistic ability. I had found a giant white sheet that did not look like it had ever been used and then some black paint.

It took some convincing but Emily finally caved. I helped her however I could but did not want to interfere. I felt somewhat guilty for asking her to do this and I guess she could tell because when we were hanging the painting up on the wall, she told me that she was glad to help me with this since I was so inspired by him and that it really was not a problem for her to do it. She thought it was a great idea.

Emily really proved me wrong that I thought nobody could be genuinely selfless and kind.

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**Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed! Please let me know in a review :) I really want to know what people think about how the story is going!**

**I'm trying to make their relationship move along at a relatively realistic pace so that's why there's some large time gaps between the chapters but it's going to start to bunch up more and more now**


	10. Some Nights

**Let me say one BIG thankyou to everyone who has read this story so far! Also an even BIGGER thank you to those of you have alert/favourited this story :) And those of you who have reviewed so far, you make me really happy ! :D Thankyouohsomuch**

**Anyways, onto the story. Enjoy!**

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**CHAPTER 9: Some Nights**

_Emily's POV - a couple weeks later…_

It was the end of the school year already. We had completely finished with exams and today had been the last day of school. This evening was the end of school dance for everyone who wouldn't be graduating, so the juniors, sophomores and freshmen. I had considered going since all my friends were going, well all except for one.

Dwayne wasn't going of course and I knew as much as I liked my other friends, I would rather spend time with him. He was so different from everyone; it was refreshing from the day to day trivial problems of most of my friends. Anyways I had already been to the other dances throughout the school year so I figured I would not miss anything too exciting tonight.

When I reached the Hoover's residence, Dwayne greeted me at the door like always. We both went to his room first and talked for a bit, well I talked and he wrote in reply. In the last couple months Dwayne used his notepad more often with me than the few sparse occasions when I first got to know him. He still was not going to chat my ear off, well write my ear off, but he did not seem as wary about interacting with me anymore.

We both plopped down on his bed, sitting across from each other. I eyed the Nietzsche painting I had done that was now hanging on his wall. I was really proud of it.

"You know Dwayne," I voiced my thoughts. "That painting was such a cool idea and I'm so glad you asked me to help you."

He wrote back:

_Well who else was going to do it?_

_ I don't know anyone else with talent like you_

"Dwayne! Stop with the compliments, I barely paint. That was just some mediocre attempt that happened to turn out good," I countered. I always got uncomfortable when people complimented me and thought I was beyond average since I had grown accustomed to being seen as nothing special. It was just luck that the painting had turned out the way it did.

We decided to watch a movie but could not actually decide on what movie to watch. Olive came in to help us choose, thinking that we should all watch _Snow White _together. I personally was never one for princess movies, especially _Snow White_. I could also tell that Dwayne did not want to spend the evening with his sister. I knew he did not mind her but she still annoyed him at times, and tonight it was our alternative plans for the two of us instead of going to the dance.

Somehow we ended up deciding on an old black and white horror movie neither of us had ever heard of. This was enough to get Olive to go away and so we started into the movie.

It of course was not that scary, being that it was made around the fifties. I ended up giving my own commentary to the movie while Dwayne smirked along and interrupted when he thought necessary. Eventually though I got tired and quieted down. I was exhausted from the weeks of studying and writing exams. I leant over and gently rested my head against Dwayne's shoulder as I drifted off.

I awoke a while later, towards the end of the movie. Dwayne had shifted his position and had put his arm across the back of the couch so that my head lay on his chest. I decided to stay the way I was since I was comfortable, and wondered whether Dwayne had noticed that I was awake.

I knew that I liked Dwayne as more than a friend, I had finally figured that out the other day but still had yet to come to terms with it. I did not know what to do of course. What do you say to someone who does not speak? Also Dwayne was such a close friend of mine that I did not want to loose our friendship since I figured Dwayne would almost definitely not be interested in someone like me.

Once the movie ended we both sat in silence together. I knew that he knew that I was not asleep anymore. After a long while, I turned to face him and the next thing I knew Dwayne was leaning towards me while I craned my neck to meet him. Our faces were mere millimeters apart, and I could feel his warm, steady breath on my cheeks. My heart quickened and I had butterflies in my stomach. His fingers gently brushed my shoulder, and then continued to trace their way down my arm.

All of a sudden we heard someone coming down the stairs to the basement and jumped away from each other. It was Richard; leave it to him to ruin a perfect moment.

"It's getting pretty late kids. Emily you should probably clear out now."

Back at home that night I lay awake thinking. I knew that I had feelings for Dwayne but I could not be sure that he felt the same way. Even though he had almost kissed me tonight he might have just been caught up in the moment. My thoughts bothered me and kept me up for most of the night.

The next day I went over to the Hoover's to hang out after dinner. When I knocked on the door, I heard a shout from within.

"Would somebody get the door please? Dwayne honey, it's probably Emily!"

When Dwayne opened the door his dark eyes did not light up like they normally did when I came over. Instead he looked distraught and upset. He turned away and trudged to his room. I followed behind.

Once we reached his room I asked him what was wrong. He began to scribble in his notepad. I noticed a cot set up by the door but waited until later to ask him about it. I also decided not to talk to him about what happened between the two of us last night. Especially now with the mood he was in, anyways I was not able to think of a way to bring it up without the conversation easily turning sour.

_We're going on a road trip to California for one of Olive's pageants_

_The whole family has to go_

_It's going to suck_

_I got talked into it by mom cause she said she'd promise to give me permission for flights school…_

"I guess that sucks," I tried to sympathize. "But at least you'll get to go to flight school. That's what you've always wanted."

Dwayne sat in silence staring straight ahead. His eyes were cold and hard.

I let him be but when he didn't move for awhile I decided to step in again.

"Oh cheer up Dwayne," I said giving him a bear hug. He softened at this and gave me a teasing look that said "ew get off".

I finally asked him why there was another bed in his room. Dwayne, in his blunt fashion, explained to me that his uncle had tried to commit suicide and now they had to look after him.

"Wow you family just keeps getting larger," I said.

I heard Olive come running down the hallway screaming, "I won! I won!" over and over so I decided to investigate. When she saw me she stopped and told me she had won the regional Little Miss Sunshine and was now getting to compete for the title.

"I'm going to CALIFORNIA!" she screamed. All of a sudden she stopped her frenzy and turned to me. "Do you want to come to California with us Emily? It would be so much fun if you did!"

Before I could answer, she ran to the kitchen while I followed. Dwayne stalked in behind me.

"Mommy," Olive said.

"What honey?" Sheryl questioned.

"Can Emily come with us to California?" she asked.

Before she answered Olive though she turned to me.

"Emily it's nice to see you. This is my brother, Frank," she said gesturing towards the unfamiliar man in all-white standing nearby, he waved slightly. "Frank, this is Emily. She lives next door and is good friends with Dwayne."

"Mom," Olive whined.

"Sorry about that Olive," Sheryl continued. "Well if Emily wants to join us she's welcome to. The whole family is already going and there is still room in the VW. Anyways she could keep you and Dwayne company on the long drive. What do you think Emily?"

"Well I've got to ask my parents," I answered. "But I'm pretty sure they'll be totally fine with me going."

I quickly ran home to ask my parents if it was okay for me to go to California. They of course said yes, happy to have me out of their hair for the weekend. I returned to the Hoover house and said I was able to go with them.

"We're going to be hitting the road nice and early," said Richard. "So be ready to go when we call because we can't wait around for anyone."

Dwayne and I retreated to his room where he promptly took out his pad and began to write to me.

_Thank god you're coming_

_ Now I'm not stuck alone with my stupid family_

I grinned back at him. I was happy I was going to get the chance to spend the weekend with Dwayne. This was going to be one exciting weekend that was for sure…

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**I hope you guys liked this chapter! Please let me know what you thought in a review! That would be great :)**

**Suggestions, comments, thoughts, anything is welcome let me know! Thanks again to everyone **


	11. Carefree Highway

**Ok so I feel terrible for not updating in a while, especially considering how I was updating so often for the first few chapters. I've been really busy the past couple days and once I did finish the chapter there was a power outage that lasted a long time so of course no internet to post! Anyways I am SUPER DUPER sorry! **

**I wanted to say another thanks to those who take the time to review/favourite/alert this story. You're the bestest!**

**Enjoy!**

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**CHAPTER 10: Carefree Highway**

The next morning Dwayne knocked on the front door bright and early. I was already up and ready to go by then, I had been up before the sun had risen; once I finished my last minute packing I sat down on my bed and stared out my bedroom window watching the sun come up since my room was at the back of the house facing east. Shortly after, Dwayne had come to fetch me.

When I came out front with my small duffel bag, the Hoovers were finishing packing their bags into the back of the VW bus and began pilling inside it. I placed my bag in the back then climbed into the bus. Dwayne was already sitting in the very back so I decided to go sit down beside him.

Once everyone piled into the bus we pulled out of the driveway and headed out towards highway. There was a long drive ahead of us, so we decided to get breakfast after a bit of driving. Dwayne leant his head against the window. I leant back in my seat and stared across him out the window at the rolling scenery outside the car. I would have done the same as Dwayne, had I not been sitting in the middle of the back seat. I was stuck between Dwayne and Edwin, his step-grandfather, I was not a big fan of him.

"Jesus I'm tired," Edwin started up. "I'm so fucking tired. Y'know how tired I am? If some girl came up to me and begged me to fuck, I couldn't do it. That's how tired I am."

Richard protested at this saying that he should watch his language, but Edwin only countered that Olive was listening to music so she couldn't hear. Deeming this conversation appropriate for the rest of the car. He proved this by offering Olive a million dollars if she turned around, which she was oblivious to.

"Hey can I give you some advice?" he said to Dwayne, who was of course unresponsive. I was starting to get uncomfortable so I scooted closer to Dwayne. I never enjoyed it when Edwin went on one of his rants since they usually involved him talking about sex and drugs. I was hunched up, leaning right against Dwayne trying to get away from his step-grandfather.

"Dwayne. That's your name right? Dwayne?" Edwin continued on, always forgetting how old Dwayne was, as well as his name. He basically told Dwayne to "fuck a lot of women", which of course nobody else in the car wanted to hear that. Finally Richard interjected, asking to change the topic which was probably one of the only times I have ever agreed with him and was happy for him to interrupt.

My face was turning red and I was eventually able to tune out the conversation. I looked over at Dwayne who was staring straight ahead with no emotion in his shadowed eyes. His ears were slightly pink though.

We eventually reached a diner for breakfast where we all ordered various dishes. Olive ordered waffles with ice cream, which meant that Richard had to go back to being considered an asshole in my books again.

Frank started to explain what "a la mode" meant in French, so everyone sat and listened intently. We were all squished into one booth; I was between Frank and Dwayne. I was really tired from waking up early and driving, so I leaned against the back of the bench, only to snap up a second later to glare at Richard when he told Frank to shut up. He then started telling Olive how ice cream would essentially make her fat. Meaning that once her ice cream came she didn't want to eat it.

The whole table, besides Richard, began to dig into her food when she offered it up, all of us mentioning that she was missing out. I chimed in, hoping to cheer her up.

"Too bad Olive doesn't like ice cream anymore. I love to eat it all the time"

This got Olive back to eating her ice cream, which made me happy she wasn't listening to Richard's crappy advice. The rest of breakfast was uneventful.

When we returned to the car, Sheryl decided she wanted to try diving the bus, which led to the breaking of the shift. We went to a nearby garage where they took a look at the bus.

I followed Dwayne as he found a patch of grass amongst the dusty auto parts, and flopped down beside him. We both lay side by side staring up at the blue sky with the occasional cloud breaking the expansive, clear blue. After a few minutes our hands found each other, and our fingers intertwined.

I looked over at Dwayne, who turned and smiled a genuine and bright smile at me. I could tell that he was actually enjoying himself on this trip so far, even though he hated his family. He almost seemed to be saying that he was happy that I was here with him.

As soon as I thought that though, I mentally slapped myself. I was just imagining things that I wanted to happen. My feelings for Dwayne were getting into the way of my thoughts.

We sat there in complete silence, as was usual, our hands still tied together until we noticed that everyone was heading back to the van. When the reached the rest of the Hoover family we found out we were going to have to push the VW to get it going.

We established the order to get into the bus with Olive and Edwin first, then Sheryl, Frank, then I, and finally Dwayne.

There was lots of shouting of instructions from Richard as we began to push the bus, while Frank announced that he wanted everyone to know that he was the preeminent Proust scholar in the United States. I grinned, it seemed I enjoyed being around Sheryl's side of the family, as well as Olive, whereas the rest of the Hoover's in this family were jerks most of the time.

We all sprinted and piled to the van one at a time, though by the time it came down to Frank, Dwayne and I the bus was plowing along and it was next to impossible to try and keep up. Frank was finally able to make it in, then Dwayne barely touched the small of my back with hands to give me a gentle push so I could hop in. I turned around and grabbed his arm to drag him in beside me to return the favour.

I was sitting again between Dwayne and Frank in the back seat and decided since no one was paying us any attention I nestled down beside Dwayne to take a short nap as I was already so exhausted from the events of today. I gently rested my head on his shoulder, and as I began to drift off I though I felt him weave his fingers in with mine.

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**Thank you sooo much for reading! Please let me know what you think and give this story a review :)**

**I know this chapter wasn't super exciting but I promise the next one will have more happening ;) And while I'm making promises, I promise chapter 11 will be up wayyyyy sooner than this one was!**


	12. How Can You Swallow So Much Sleep

**Thanks to everyone who has read, favourited and followed this story! And an extra special thanks to those who have reviewed this story :) I tried to update as soon as possible so I hope the wait wasn't too long. I've been really busy so updates won't be too often anymore. My grandparents are going to be visiting for the next few days so I won't have much time on the computer. I'll to get a couple more chapters in before August though cause I won't have much time to write then :(**

**Anyways, enjoy! And please review :)**

**_Disclaimer: I do not own Little Miss Sunshine or the characters from the movie, only my OC Emily_  
**

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**CHAPTER 11: How Can You Swallow So Much Sleep**

I woke up a while later to Richard and Frank bickering. I felt groggy. I looked up at Dwayne, who looked down and met my eyes with a teasing look. I just raised an eyebrow at him.

We pulled into a gas station and everyone piled out of the bus. Richard was on the phone, Olive went off to practice her routine and Dwayne went over to a patch of grass to do some exercises.

I went over to where Olive was.

"Are you and Dwayne in love?" she asked with big eyes when I reached her.

"No silly. What made you think that?"

"Well when two people really like each other they spend lots of time together apparently. And in the car you had your head on his shoulder," Olive said with what she thought was an all-knowing look.

"No Olive," I corrected her with a smile. "Boys and girls can spend lots of time together and still be just friends. That's what Dwayne and I are. _Friends_."

"Oh ok. I guess that makes sense too. But it looked like he was holding your hand then too"

"Well I guess it just looked like that, 'cause we weren't," I lied. I didn't want Olive to become involved in this confusing mess as well.

I left and went back to where Dwayne was. I inwardly laughed to myself at the simplicity of young kids. Everything was so black and white for them. Everything had become so complex and confusing for me.

Dwayne was doing push-ups on the grass. It was amazing how much he worked out and how strong he was for someone who was so lanky. I sat down beside him on the grass.

"Olive asked me if we were in love," I said chuckling. "I told her she was being silly of course."

Dwayne just gave me a quizzical look in return.

"Dwayne, I've been meaning to ask you… What's going on-"

I wasn't able to finish my question because Richard came by and beckoned for us to get into the van. I knew I was not going to find out my answer anytime soon again since it had taken a lot of courage to ask what had been on my mind for ages, and I would not be able to do that again soon.

The atmosphere in the car was tense. I shrank down in my seat in between Dwayne and Edwin, and became lost in my own thoughts. Eventually Dwayne noticed that Olive was missing and brought attention to this. We turned around and went back for her, where she was still waiting at the gas station.

Back on the highway, the rest of the drive that day was uneventful. I was somewhat bored and tired, like the others in the bus since it was nearing the end of the day.

We pulled into a motel and started to unload are stuff. Olive asked if she could share a room with her grandpa. Everyone began to file into their different rooms, while I stood there awkwardly.

"Umm where should I sleep?" I piped up.

"I guess just go with Dwayne and Frank, there's two double beds in there," said an exhausted Sheryl.

I lugged my duffel bag into the room behind Dwayne, while Frank followed and shut the door behind him.

"Dwayne and I could share a bed Emily," Frank said awkwardly.

"No, it's fine. I can just grab some of the extra blankets and make myself comfortable in the chair," I said gesturing to the plain, leather armchair in the corner of the small room.

"You sure?"

"Yeah, it's no problem."

I pulled open the sliding doors of the mirrored closet and reached up to the top shelf where a couple of cheap blankets and an extra pillow were kept. I took them down and left them on the chair so I could arrange them later.

I went to use the bathroom first and changed into my pajamas. When I came out I was wearing a pair of my brother's old plaid boxers as well as a plain black tshirt. I saw Dwayne give me the once over as I went to put my toiletries away. This made the butterflies in my stomach flutter.

All of a sudden I could hear loud shouts coming from the room next door that sounded like Richard and Sheryl. I looked over at Dwayne, who had a smile spreading across his face. Had I not known him better I would have thought he was a creep smiling at people fighting, but I understood why he would be happy about that. It's probably like what happened when his parents separated before so he hopes Sheryl would divorce Richard. It made sense since he was such an asshole.

Frank came out of the bathroom and turned the TV on to try and distract us from the noise, but Dwayne shut it off almost immediately. I went to sit down beside him on his bed.

"I understand but… y'know," I said giving him a look that said his smiling was still inappropriate.

"I'm going to go outside," I continued. "I want to get some fresh air. Wanna come?"

Dwayne got up and followed me out to the balcony corridor that ran along the motel. I noticed he had grabbed his hoodie and wished I had done the same. Instead of putting it on though, he draped it around my shoulders to keep me warm in the cool night air. I grinned up at Dwayne, while he allowed himself a small smile back.

We both leant against the railing, looking out into the parking lot. The VW bus had moved since we parked it, but that was no surprise seeing as how it was not the most reliable vehicle.

We stood there for a long while, taking comfort in each other's company. Finally I turned to face him.

"Dwayne… I…" I trailed off, trying to pluck up the courage to finish what I had begun earlier today. We stared intensely into each other's eyes for what seemed like years. Finally I was about to try to speak again when a door opened behind us.

Sheryl came out of her room to have a smoke, though she discreetly tried to hide her cigarette before we could notice.

"Kids what are you doing out here so late? Get back to bed. Remember we have to be up at seven tomorrow."

We entered our room again in silence.

"Out to get some fresh air?" Frank stated when we returned. Dwayne just shrugged at this comment and I followed suite.

"Well I'm going to turn in now," Frank said while he turned off his bedside lamp.

The only light now illuminating our small room was the dim lamp beside Dwayne's bed. I went and arranged my bed in the chair while Dwayne changed into his pajamas, which consisted of a gray shirt and his boxers. He got into bed and sat propped up against the headboard, reading a book. Although I was tired, I wasn't sleepy so I decided after a while to go sit with Dwayne.

I crawled up beside him and sat against the headboard. After finishing his page he put down his book, and took out his note pad.

_Thanks for being such a great friend._

_ I really like you._

"Thanks," I whispered shyly.

I couldn't exactly tell what he meant by saying he liked me but I took it that he meant as friends, since that was what he had mentioned in the line before.

We sat in silence as usual. Our silences were never empty or suffocating. The quiet between the two of us was always oddly comforting. My exhaustion finally caught up with me and I began to feel sleepy. I leant my head onto Dwayne's should as he turned out the light. I toyed with his hand for a while, intertwining our fingers then unwrapping them while we sat in the darkness.

Eventually I was on the verge of falling asleep so I lumbered over to the chair in the dark, while Dwayne helped me to find the way. He made sure I was okay and went back to bed, though not before stealing a quick kiss on the top of my head.

Though I can't be sure whether the last part happened or not since I fell into a deep sleep straight away.

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**Thanks for reading! I hope you liked this chapter. It wasn't the greatest since I was sorta struggling for ideas and I wrote this late at night so it might not be the bestest.**

**Anyways please let me know what you think of this chapter and the story in general in a review!**


	13. Little Talks

**Thanks again to everyone reading, favourite-ing and following this story :) And for those who review, you always make my day! Reviews really help to motivate me to write ;)**

**Anyways enjoy this chapter!**

_Disclaimer: Again...don't own Little Miss Sunshine, just my OC_

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**CHAPTER 12: Little Talks**

I woke up the next morning in a daze. Everyone was moving around anxiously and I could hear the nearing siren of an ambulance outside. Dwayne had shook me awake and tossed his notepad to me.

_Get dressed and packed quickly_

_ We're going to the hospital_

I threw everything into my duffel bag, and changed into some clothes, unaware if they matched or were clean. I stumbled into the van and sat down next to Dwayne, noticing Edwin's absence. We were following behind an ambulance and I figured that was where Edwin was.

Once we reached the hospital everything became a blur. We found out Edwin had died. I felt awkward sitting in the hospital waiting room with the Hoovers. I felt like I was imposing on this personal matter. I sat across the room from them, letting them deal with the matter themselves.

I sat, lost in my own thoughts. Eventually the family was allowed to go in to see the body. I stayed behind. Dwayne and Frank came back out after a short while and beckoned me to follow them.

Once we were outside we circled the building and Frank explained in a hushed tone what was happening. We were going to take Edwin's body with us so we waited below the window of the room where the rest of the family was and they passed out the body. After that we stumbled to the car and quickly tried to make it out of there.

Back on the road my mind was buzzing with lack of sleep and the stress of this morning. With Edwin now occupying the trunk, only Dwayne and I were in the back seat, so I curled up in the corner opposite from him to take a nap. I knew Dwayne had not been close to his step grandfather but I figured he would still want to be left alone.

I jolted awake to the sound of a loud shrill honk that did not stop. It was coming from the VW. Richard was banging around in the front trying to get the car to shut up but to no avail.

I looked over at Dwayne to notice him looking at me. He smirked when our eyes met. Sometimes I wished I could pluck up the courage to tell him how I felt and ask whether there was anything between the both of us.

All of a sudden, sirens sounded behind us and a cop on a motorcycle had us pull over. He made Richard get out of the car and went around back to look in the trunk. Everyone in the car tensed up when they noticed where the policeman was headed.

I looked back to see him give us a slimy smile, and wriggled uncomfortably in my seat. Dwayne slid closer and put a protective arm around me, making me instantly relax.

We drove for a while longer without much event. I asked Dwayne some irrelevant yes or no questions, which had both of us in fits of silent laughter. After a bit, Olive asked if either of us wanted to do some of the eye tests she had picked up at the hospital. I declined but Dwayne surprisingly went ahead with it.

To no surprise he had 20/20 vision, which he seemed to be quite smug about. I playfully punched him in the arm. Next Olive wanted to test Dwayne to see if he was colour blind.

"What's the letter in the circle," she asked, holding up a card that had a red circle with a green 'A' inside of it. Dwayne just shook his head and squinted at the page.

"No no no," Olive corrected him, while pointing at the green letter. "Inside the circle. Right there. See?"

Dwayne crossed his arms and slowly shook his head in response. I could begin to feel a cool air come over me.

"It's an A. Can't you see it?" Olive pestered.

Dwayne grabbed the sheet out of her hand and stared at the red circle with a fierce look in his eyes.

"It's bright green," Frank added with a look of concern.

The look on Dwayne's face fell. He reached hastily for his pad and scribbled "What?" jabbing it in Frank's face. With a sigh he replied:

"Dwayne, I think you might be colour blind."

Something inside me splintered as I watched him shake the pad in Frank's face, on the verge of tears. I knew what was coming.

"You can't fly jets if you're colour blind," Frank replied grimly to Dwayne.

With that all hell broke loose in the bus. Dwayne began to punch at the side of the bus. I shrunk into the opposite corner, scared of what I was seeing. I had never seen Dwayne so emotional before. Frank began yelling to pull the car over and Olive was flustered, not able to comprehend what was happening. Richard of course was reluctant to do something for Dwayne and hoped that there would be a good excuse.

Finally on the side of the road, Dwayne hopped out of the car and took off down the hill. Reaching the bottom he cursed over and over at the top of his voice until he broke down into tears, crouching on the ground. The rest of the Hoovers had piled out of the van. I sat gingerly in the doorway on the side of the van. This felt like a personal matter that I did not want to interfere with, yet I knew Dwayne better than anyone else.

Sheryl went down to try and calm Dwayne down, but only aggravated him again and caused him to curse more about how much he hated his family. When Sheryl returned defeated, I pushed myself up from where I sitting and went down the hill.

When I reached Dwayne, I sat down beside him. I calmly reached for one of his hands, which he was using to hide his face. At first he tried to free his hand from my grasp but then decided against it and wrapped my hand in a strong grip.

We sat like that until Olive came down to see Dwayne. I stood back up and climbed the hill again, deciding to let them have their own time together. I climbed back into the VW and sat in the back seat. When the two finally returned to the family, Dwayne helped Olive back up the hill and apologized to his family.

Dwayne climbed back into the van and sat down beside me.

"Thanks," he whispered quietly. I smiled in return. This was the first time I have ever had him speak to me, and my stomach did a somersault.

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**Thanks once again for reading! I hope you enjoyed this chapter :)**

**Please let me know in a review! I had this chapter up sooner than expected, so I hope I'll have the next one up before I go away this weekend**


	14. Keep Talking

**I'm back everyone! I hope you enjoy the chapter. Please review! :)**

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**CHAPTER 13: Keep Talking**

With everyone back in the van, we sped along the highway trying to make it in time to Olive's pageant. Everybody was shouting and freaking out as we served off the highway. Well, everybody except for Dwayne.

He was lying across the backseat with his heading resting beside me and his legs bunched up on the other end of the bench. I gently reached down and ruffled his hair softly, which jolted him from his thoughts. He gave an almost invisible smile and pushed himself up to sit beside me. Almost falling on top of me as the van swerved into a parking lot and went straight through a barrier.

The crazy driving from Richard didn't end there though. We flew through the parking lot, as well as barriers and down sidewalks until we skidded to a halt in the hotel parking lot.

Dwayne and I were both bruised, having been thrown into each other on the wild ride. The rest of the family quickly piled out of the van and ran inside.

Dwayne got off the bus first and courteously offered me a hand to help me hop over the door of the VW that was lying on the ground. That bus just kept falling apart.

We smiled at each other and walked towards the building with our hands gently intertwined. He let go though as we entered the hotel. We wandered through the lobby and followed signs to the Little Miss Sunshine pageant, until we came to a room full people.

It was disgusting. There were too many people walking around me for one, I never enjoyed crowds. There were hoards of girls covered with make-up and their hair teased high on their heads. They were all in expensive, sequined frocks.

I felt uncomfortable and shifted my feet awkwardly. I never liked these types of events and had never gotten along with this type of people. I was beginning to question why I had come along on this trip.

I also began to notice how a lot of the girls walking by us were having a good look at him. This didn't help to brighten my now darkening mood.

We found the rest of the Hoovers and followed Frank to go off and sit, while Sheryl and Olive got ready for the show.

We sat in a hallway for a while in silence. Frank was busy with reading the newspaper while Dwayne and I sat perched in silence.

Finally Dwayne, disgusted by some giggling girls who ran by, voiced all of our thoughts:

"Let's get out of here."

We walked back outside and along the beachside path beside the hotel until we reached a pier. It ran out far in the ocean and all three of us silently decided to go out on to it.

We stood at the end for a long while in silence again. I had almost begun to forget that Dwayne was now talking, when he voiced his thoughts again.

"Sometimes I just that I could go to sleep until I was eighteen. And skip all this crap, high school and everything. Just skip it."

That seemed like a reasonable idea. I wouldn't mind the sleeping part, plus people usually forgot how difficult it is to be a teenager.

I tuned out the conversation going until between Frank and Dwayne. Instead focusing on the waves cresting below us. Even though it was an overcast day the water was still majestic. I was trying to picture how it would look if I were able to capture this scene in a drawing.

"You know what," I heard Dwayne say. "Fuck beauty contests. Life is one fucking beauty contest after another. School then college then work. Fuck that."

I was definitely agreeing with what Dwayne was saying then. Maybe it would be even better to have a talking Dwayne then a silent one.

"And fuck the air force academy. If I want to fly, I'll find a way to fly. You do what you love, and fuck the rest."

"I'm glad you're talking again Dwayne," Frank said.

"Me too," I agree shyly.

"You're not nearly as stupid as you look," Frank continued. "Wanna go back?"

"Not really."

"Well I'll head back and you guys can catch up," Frank compromised.

Dwayne and I nodded our agreement as Frank turned to leave. I swear I saw him wink at Dwayne.

We both turned back to each other, leaning against the railing of the pier.

"So you're glad I'm talking, huh?"

"Yeah, I guess so," I said sheepishly, turning away from Dwayne.

He reached forwards and clasped my hand. He slowly turned me back to face him and pulled me slightly towards him.

I felt my heartbeat quicken as my breathing became shallow. Dwayne looked deep into my eyes and spoke:

"I've been meaning to do this for a while…"  
His voice still gave me butterflies. It was so strange listening to him speak, when I had only ever known him by his silence.

He broke my thoughts though by leaning in towards me. Our hands still wrapped together, I stood on my tiptoes and tilted my head up to meet his.

Our lips met in a soft kiss. Even so, you could still feel the passion behind both of us. Dwayne deepened the kiss ever so slightly before we both broke away from each other.

It was the kiss that I – we – had been waiting for. I turned my head away, as I felt my cheeks begin to turn pink. Dwayne reached up and brushed the hair out of my face.

"You're beautiful Emily."

"Oh Dwayne," I replied with a teasing hint of annoyance.

We turned and walked back to the hotel, our hands locked together.

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**Thanks for reading! Please let me know what you thought of this chapter!**

**Sorry this chapter was kind of boring, I've been really busy and I'm starting to get writer's block with this story D: **

**If you have any suggestions for how the story should go let me know and I'll take it into account! It'd be really helpful and I'm always open to new ideas for the story :)**


	15. Simplest Love

**Hey everyone! I've returned! I'm really sorry I didn't get this up sooner :( I didn't really have the chance until now what with school starting. Also a big thank you to everyone who has favourited, followed and reviewed this story! You guys are my motivation :D ****But here is an extra long chapter for y'alls for waiting so patiently!**

**Also I wanted to tell everyone, my English teacher this year has a Nietzsche quote on the wall which of course I thought Little Miss Sunshine when I saw that!**

**Anyways without further a do, please enjoy this chapter! ~This will be the last chapter that goes along with the movie bytheway**

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**Chapter 14: Simplest Love**

I walked side by side with Dwayne back towards the hotel. Frank was waiting for us in the lobby, a teasing smile playing across his face as he looked at our interlocked hands.

"Are you guys ready to face the pageant?" he asked.

"Not really," Dwayne muttered.

"We don't have to go in just yet," I offered. "Olive's not on for another while, so we can spare ourselves the pain."

Both of them agreed with me and we opted to stand around in the lobby for a little while instead. Girls in poufy and sequined frocks ran through every now and then, fixing their hair, dabbing on more make up or worrying about their routine.

I sighed, as I tucked a strand of limp hair behind my ear. I had never been able to understand the concept behind pageants.

I noticed a table in a corner, holding pamphlets advertising different attractions in the area. I walked over to inspect the flimsy booklets.

I picked up one that looked interesting, it was talking about a nearby nature park, and the photography used was spectacular. I was lost in inspecting the photos until I heard voices a few feet away from me. Slowly, I put down the pamphlet and looked over.

"Hey there," a blonde girl with an incredible amount of hair piled on her head sidled up to Dwayne. He glowered at her through his hair.

"You're quite the looker. What's your name?" she flirted, fluttering her eyelashes at an alarming rate. She went on to start talking about herself. Dwayne did not seemed to be interested but I was not taking any chances.

I walked over to the two of them and confidently slide my arm around Dwayne's waist. He subconsciously placed his arm across my shoulder.

"Hi," I said coolly, giving the girl a piercing look. I wasn't about to loose Dwayne, right after we finally became more then just friends.

"Oh I didn't see you there," she stalled from her story. She looked down her nose at me and finally noticed Dwayne's arm around me.

"See you around Dwaynie," she said as she turned on her heel and stalked off.

"Dwaynie?" I laughed. Dwayne's cheeks flushed pink as he looked away.

"Hey, I didn't pick the name!" he shrugged in response.

"If you say so," I teased.

"Did it really bother you that much? Her talking to me?" Dwayne said as a look of concern crossed his face.

"Well…. Umm… " I stuttered.

"You really think I would drop you like that Emily?" he said with a note of hurt.

"No it's not that. I wasn't worried about you Dwayne. It's just I didn't like her talking to you. I mean I don't mind if you talk to other girls, just she was so obviously trying to get with you and I don't know-" I was talking rapidly, flustered and not knowing how to put my response into words.

Before I could finish though, Dwayne was turning me towards him; one hand on the small of my back, the other angling my chin up. His mouth met mine and he softly kissed me. I kissed him back, and the kiss became more passionate as his hand slid along my jaw, resting on the nape of my neck.

We heard someone clear their throat, and we broke apart.

"Sorry to interrupt the lovebirds but it's getting time for Olive to perform," Frank said.

The three of us walked towards the large white doors, separating us from the pageant. My stomach did a somersault. I had never liked pageants or anything of the sort and I knew there was no way I could be comfortable in the room full of moms and young girls.

I looked over at Dwayne. This calmed my nerves as I realized he would be no more comfortable than I.

Frank opened the door, and we slipped inside the room. The room was a blur of music, girls in colour, frilly frocks and lights dancing around the stage. It was all too much.

We all took one look around the room and realized we couldn't stay in there, waiting until Olive took to the stage. Our odd group turned right around and headed straight out the door again.

Dwayne said he would be right back and took off in the direction of the dressing rooms. This left me alone with Frank.

We found a bench nearby and sat down, waiting for Dwayne to return.

"So you and Dwayne are together huh?" Frank said, grinning.

"I guess so," I replied weakly.

"I always knew that was going to happen."

I just laughed half-heartedly in response. As we sat in silence, my mind began to wander.

I wondered what would happen with Dwayne and I when we got back to Albuquerque. Would things still be the same between us? I wondered what my friends would think. Most of them, well the ones that I was good friends with, didn't mind that I was friends with the silent boy and spent my lunches with him but I do not think they ever knew how much time we actually spent together.

Also now that he was talking, that would probably change things up a bit. I had only ever known Dwayne when he wasn't talking and today had been the first time I had ever heard his voice. Would we still be able to interact the same, now that he was speaking?

My thoughts were interrupted when everyone else ran by. Frank and I hopped up and followed suit.

The Hoovers and I ran into the auditorium and quickly took our seats towards the back of the crowd. Olive was just being welcomed onto stage.

She walked apprehensively towards the middle of the stage. I was happy to see that she wasn't wearing some glitter-covered body suit like the rest of the girls in this show.

Olive started her dance to _Super Freak_ by Rick James, after dedicating her performance to her grandfather. As soon as she said this, I knew her dance was going to be interesting.

It of course turned out to be every bit and more, than I thought it would be. And her routine definitely horrified most of the audience.

Even though her dancing was inappropriate for a girl her age, I was still proud of Olive. She was having fun up on the stage and did not have a care in the world for what other people in the auditorium thought.

Frank stood up and started to clap along to the music. Meanwhile members of the audience got up and left, or booed at Olive. The rest of the family and I joined Frank in encouraging Olive, a giant smile spreading across my face.

Eventually though, the judges wanted to get her off the stage, and the creepy host with a disgusting fake tan tried to chase her off the stage.

Richard ran to the stage and tackled the host off to the side. He reappeared again and joined Olive in her dancing. Frank, spurred on by Richard's dancing, joined his in-law and niece on stage.

I ran up the aisle behind Dwayne, who tumbled on to stage, turning around to give me a hand up.

Soon after Sheryl joined us, and we were all dancing like hooligans on the stage. It was the most amazing feeling ever. All of us dancing like crazy, not caring what anybody thought. The experience was incredibly freeing.

Eventually the song had to end though, and we were ushered off the stage towards the security office.

We were told to sit out front while we waited for a verdict.

We waited for what felt like hours, with only the sound of ticking from a clock and the muffled yells of one of the judges within the security office. Finally a police officer came out:

"Okay, you're out. On the condition that you never enter your daughter in a beauty pageant in the state of California ever again. Ever."

"I think we can live with that," stated Frank. And with that we were on our way back home.

xxx

Back in the van somewhat repaired, we drove until after sundown. I sat in the very back with Dwayne as we had the whole way to Redondo Beach. We sat in one corner, Dwayne leaning against the window; I leaning on his shoulder with my feet tucked up beside me.

He had casually slung his arm around me. I looked up and caught him gazing at me; I smiled and reached up to playfully ruffle his hair.

We pulled into yet another motel to spend the night. The room arrangements were almost the exact same as the night before, only Olive was going to share with her parents so that we only needed to pay for two rooms.

No one else besides Frank was really aware of Dwayne and I's relationship that we knew of.

In our room, we unpacked what we needed for the night and each got ready for bed. Dwayne used the washroom first and emerged in an old tshirt and boxers.

I went into the bathroom next, and quickly changed into my own PJs. When I came back out, I scanned the room quickly and realized there wasn't a chair I could use to sleep in this time around. Frank answered my unvoiced question:

"You and Dwayne can share. I figured you would regardless, just don't get too cozy," he said suggestively before entering the washroom himself.

I set my toiletries back in my duffel and nervously walked over to the bed.

I sat down on top of the sheets next to Dwayne, he lay an arm across me, pulling me in towards him but before he could continue with anything else I interjected what had been bothering me.

"Dwayne," I said almost too forcefully. I propped my head up with my arm, why I lay on my side facing Dwayne.

"What's wrong Emily?" a look of confusion crossed his usually emotionless face.

"I don't know if I can do this…" I trailed off.

"Do what?"

"I mean… what are we? Are we actually going out, like boyfriend and girlfriend or is this just a fling?"

"Emily," Dwayne said in a quiet and serious tone. "I really like you, and I would hate for this to be just a fling. I really think we could work."

I let out a sigh of relief and smiled sheepishly up at him. Dwayne ran his hand through his hair, smiling back at me.

He reached forwards and pulled me into an embrace, his arms wrapping around me, enveloping me as mine slithered across his chest, one coming to rest there, the other continuing up to his hair.

Soon enough our lips crashed together, our noses squished against each other. His one arm tightened around my waist, drawing my body right against him, while his other hand became tangled in my long hair.

I ran my own hand through his black hair and I could feel him smile into our kiss. We could have continued like this all night if Frank had not come out of the bathroom, startling the two of us apart.

He gave us a knowing look, than climbed into his own bed and turned off the light.

I sat there in the dark in the moment, before crawling under the blanket to join Dwayne.

A shiver went down my body, as my skin touched his.

Here we were sharing a small hotel bed, in barely any clothing. It wasn't like we were going to get anywhere, we had only just started our relationship and Frank was in the bed right next to us! But the thought was still something.

Dwayne wrapped his arms around me, as I leant into him, resting against his chest. He lightly kissed the tip of my nose before whispering goodnight in my ear.

"Goodnight… Dwaynie," I whispered in response.

"Knock it off," he said, amused.

He rested his head on top of mine as I drifted off to sleep in the safety of his arms.

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**Thank you for reading! I hope you liked this chapter!**

**Please let me know what you thought in a review, that would be great :) Plus hopefully that will motivate me to get the next chapter up here faster ;)  
This chapter was kinda fluff but not so much. The next is probably going to be some more fluff just to connect between the two parts ot the story. Then into the second part of the story that I've been building up to for so long! :)**

**THANK YOU**


	16. When I Come Home

**Hi everyone! Thank you for continuing to read this story even though I'm not able to update often. I tried to get this chapter up as quickly as possible though that meant I didn't get to edit it as much as I would have liked; so sorry in advance for any errors. Also a big thank you to those who have read, favourited, followed and REVIEWED this story! Especially Spiritus-Sancti13, Crash Solar x, and BlackShorts for leaving such kind and encouraging reviews :) Anyways, I hope you'll enjoy this chapter!**

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**Chapter 15: When I Come Home**

_A few weeks later…_

The past few weeks had passed in a blur. Summer was drawing to a close. Since we had gotten back from California, the last month or so had been relatively uneventful.

Dwayne and I were still going strong, spending almost everyday together. We mainly hung out at his place and cuddled, though we had gone a few dates, the last being out to the movies. It had gone well but I did not remember much about the movie if you know what I mean.

I made my way over to the Hoover's residence to meet Dwayne for the afternoon. We did not have anything planned but I figured we could spend the afternoon together, like usual.

I knocked tentatively on the door and a few seconds later, Frank answered.

"Dwayne, your girlfriend's here," he shouted over his shoulder.

Dwayne and I had eventually told his family that we were in a relationship. It was an awkward situation since I had come to know them as a second family. We didn't know how they would react, especially since Dwayne had never expressed any interest in girls before.

We had told the rest of the Hoover's one night after dinner. Sheryl had been ecstatic, and Richard seemed pleasant enough about it. Olive of course had to ask questions:

"Are you guys going to get married then?" she had asked.

Everyone laughed.

Dwayne lumbered down the hallway and smiled slightly at me, while I stood in the doorframe. He slipped on a pair of shoes and grabbed my hand, pulling me out of the house.

"Let's beat it out of here."

He wrapped our fingers together, as we walked side by side through the streets of our neighbourhood.

We reached the field, and crossed the train tracks into the tall grass. Once we made our way to our spot on the side of the hill, Dwayne sat down on the ground. I made myself comfortable, leaning against his shoulder.

We could see the sun sinking slightly in the west, ever nearing sunset in the mid afternoon sky. The tall grass around us swayed back and forth throughout the valley in the light summer breeze.

Dwayne spoke, interrupting my thoughts:

"You know…. That drawing you did from the first time we came up here was incredible."

"Wait? Which one? Oh…. When did you see that?" I gasped, the colour draining from my face. I had never really intended for Dwayne to see my drawing of him.

"Let's just say, I looked at your sketchbook once."

The drawing I had done, back a few months ago had been of the sun setting beyond the hills in the valley we were looking down on. It had been of my whole view that night, including Dwayne sprawled out on the ground.

"There's no need to embarrassed Emily," he said softly. "I loved it. The drawing was beautiful… Just like you."

"Really? You think that?" I stumbled. "Oh I mean. This is all coming out wrong. I just. No one's ever called me that…"

Dwayne turned towards me, wrapping a strong arm around my delicate waist, resting his forehead on mine.

With that, I reached up to kiss his soft lips. He kissed me passionately in return, running a hand through my hair and letting it come to rest at the nape of my neck.

I flopped back onto the grass, pulling Dwayne with me as we continued to deepen our kiss. I wrapped one arm around him, my other hand played with his hair.

He gently slid his tongue across my lips, waiting for me to allow him access to my mouth. Our kiss continued to become more and more passionate, our tongues now exploring both our mouths.

We broke apart gasping for air. As he let me catch my breath, he trailed kisses along my jaw, down my neck and across my collarbone. I let out a soft moan, causing Dwayne to return to my mouth.

Our hands played across each other, exploring each other. Eventually Dwayne's shirt was off and lying on the ground next to us.

I slid my hand across his firm chest, my other tangled in his jet-black hair. Next thing I knew, Dwayne was tugging at my own shirt. I drew back.

"Dwayne, I can't. We're in public."

He gave me a confused look.

"No one can see us Emily."

"Yeah but still. Not today okay?"

"I understand," he lightly kissed the top my head before going to put his shirt back on.

We walked back to the Hoover residence in silence. Though silence for us was normal, seeing as Dwayne was not a very talkative person. We still enjoyed our comfortable periods of silence.

Dwayne and I lazily lumbered in through the front door of the house. Almost immediately after the door closed behind us, Sheryl came dashing down the hall towards us.

Her face was pale and stricken as she began to rapidly speak to Dwayne in a hushed ton. I was just out of earshot, not hearing what was being said. Though I knew from the way Dwayne's face turned to stone, that whatever had happened was not good.

Sheryl finally noticed me standing in the doorway and asked politely if I could leave. I of course wanted to give the family the space they needed, and left immediately. The strange part was though, that Dwayne did not turn around to say goodbye, let alone give me a goodbye kiss, as was the norm, before I slipped through the door. It was almost like he had forgotten me.

xXxXx

I spent the rest of the evening at home by myself. It was odd, since I had become so used to spending my time with other people over the past year. I almost did not know what to do with myself.

I decided to try and work on some art, but gave up eventually in frustration. I just was not in the mood for it today.

I usually was not a nosy person, but I really wondered what had happened over at the Hoover's. It was not so much that I was curious in the sense that I just wanted to know for my own personal knowledge, but rather I wanted to make sure everything was okay with Dwayne.

That night I continued to lie awake in bed, staring at the ceiling while thinking about Dwayne and I.

It really was everything that I wanted in a way. I liked Dwayne not just romantically either. He was so genuine, a trait that was near impossible to find these days with a lot of people. And surprisingly for a sullen boy who didn't talk much, I got along really well with him.

We had never had a fight or even a major disagreement. The most had been little things, and this had happened even while we were friends. Never anything that was difficult to sort out.

The next day I decided I would give the Hoovers their space, making up my mind to stay away until they told me it was okay to return.

I decided to preoccupy myself by going out for lunch with a few of my friends that I hadn't seen much of over the summer. It was nice to catch up with them and we had a lot of fun together, though every now and then my mind would wander back to Dwayne.

I did not tell them that Dwayne and I were dating. The right moment did not come up. Though I did wonder what their reactions would be. They were fine with me spending my school lunches with him, knowing we were friends, but he was a mute then and is an outcast at school. I had never stopped to consider the social implications of this, not that I really cared at all.

That evening my parents went out for dinner, leaving me in the house by myself. I had finally settled down to reading a book, when there was an urgent knock on the door.

I answered it to find Sheryl standing on the front step looking worried.

"What's wrong?" I asked, instantly becoming anxious myself.

"Have you seen Dwayne at all?"

"No, the last time I saw him was yesterday afternoon."

"He's been missing for a few hours now and no one knows where he went. I'm sure he just had to get out of the house but now he's been gone for so long and I have no idea where he could be."

"I'm sure he's fine," I tried to reassure her, my mind racing, trying to help think where he could have gone. All of a sudden I knew exactly where he was.

"Oh my gosh! That's it! Don't worry I'll find him," I told her before I ran down the steps and off down the street.

I raced the last rays of the setting sun as I sprinted through the neighbourhood. At the edge of suburbia, I leaped over the train tacks and tore through the tall grass.

I made it to our clearing in record time and found Dwayne where I knew he would be.

He was lying on the ground, and looked disheveled. His cheeks were tear stained and his eyes were slightly red. It was obvious that he had been crying.

This broke my heart to see, as he was always so collected, he was the last person I would think to cry.

He did not notice me there until I reached over and stroked his hair softly. He looked up at me, trying to force a smile and get himself together.

"Dwayne…"

He sat up beside and I pulled him into a tight hug, He burrowed his head into my shoulder, circling his arms around my waist. He held me tight like he thought he might loose me if he did not hold on.

We stayed like that for a long time. I gently rubbed his back, trying to comfort him. Finally I pulled back and looked him in the eyes.

"Dwayne, what's wrong?"

He paused, considering what to say before answering simply with:

"My dad."

"What happened?"

Dwayne went on to explain the events of the last twenty-four hours.

His father had showed up on the Hoover doorstep shortly before we had returned from our outing to the field yesterday. He had showed up completely out of the blue, with one intention only: to see Dwayne.

Dwayne told me that he was upset with his father for just turning up completely unannounced to see him, the first time in years. He was angry that he hadn't bothered to keep in touch with Dwayne and now wanted to spend time with him.

"You know what? I've never even had a father figure since he walked out of my life. There was never another guy that I could look up to, who was older and knew everything. Who knew what to do," Dwayne was starting to yell now. "I thought every adult was fucked up. Every man on this planet was fucked up is what I thought. And everyone is. Everyone in my family is fucked. I guess some aren't as much as others, like Frank is fucked, but not as fucked up as my dad is. Everyone's fucked up."

I pulled him towards me and kissed him gently on the top of his head.

"I'm sure everything will work out fine," I reassured him.

He didn't seem to hear me though and kept on with his rant.

"He's such a jerk though. Does he really think as soon as I seem him for like the first time in five years that I'll be down on my knees begging him to take me back with him? He's disgusting. I can't wait until he leaves."

"Why did he come to visit anyways?" I asked out of curiosity.

"Apparently he wanted to spend time with me," Dwayne muttered.

"Well he can't be that bad," I said trying to be positive, not actually knowing what to make of this situation. "Anyways we better get back home. Everyone's worried about where you've been."

"You know what the worst part is though," Dwayne finally voiced the main thing bothering him. "He promised that he could get me into flight school…"

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**So I left this chapter on a bit of a cliff hanger!**

**I hope everyone liked it even though it was not the greatest chapter. I'm becoming a bit blocked for ideas with this story D:**

**I may take a short hiatus with this story since I'm very uninspired at the moment, and I'm also starting a new fanfic as well for another category. **

**Let me know what you thought of this chapter in a review (hopefully that will get me to put up a new chapter quicker!) and if you have any ideas about how the story should go, PM me and I'll take it into consideration. **

**THANK YOU :)**


	17. How It Ended

**Sorry I took so long to get this chapter up! I've been so busy until now. I didn't get the time I would have liked to edit this but hopefully I can start on the next chapter once I get back from vacation! Again, I am so so sorry for the wait, hopefully you enjoy the chapter!**

**And thank you to those of you who continue to read, favourite, follow and review this story! You are my motivation :) **

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**Chapter 16: How It Ended**

"But how…?" I trailed off. It made no sense. Dwayne was colour blind, essentially crushing his dream of ever being able to fly. There was no way he could get into flight school. What in hell was his dad on about?

"I honestly don't know," he sighs. "I didn't think it was possible but maybe he found a way… I don't think so though. It just doesn't seem possible. That bastard."

"Maybe you could give him a chance. I mean he is your father after all," I said trying to offer some advice. I didn't want to see Dwayne snuff his father just because of hard feelings. Maybe he had really changed. I didn't know much about this man, as Dwayne had never really talked about him.

Dwayne just sat there looking sullenly at the dirt in front of him. I knew it would be difficult to cheer him up but at least I would try.

I leaned in and planted a soft and lingering kiss on his lips. This softened his scowl, as he smiled into my lips.

"I don't know what I'd do without you Emily."

I smiled up at him, his usually harsh features were soft as he gazed at me.

"I guess we should get going, everyone is really worried about you Dwayne."

I pulled him to his feet and we started back towards home. He looped his arm around my waist, as we casually found our way down the sidewalk, making our way back to our street.

"Hey Emily, I want you to come inside with me," he said once we reached our neighbouring houses. "I don't think I can bare to be alone right now."

"Sure," I agreed as he led me inside the Hoover residence. I expected to find Dwayne's father inside but instead we were with greeted with an emotional Sheryl.

"Oh Dwayne," she said hugging him. "We were worried."

"Hey, mom. It's okay," he said trying to reassure her, as he pulled himself away from her embrace.

"Oh thank you Emily," she said, giving me a warm hug. "Dwayne, your father's not here right now, thank god. He's gone for the moment, I don't know where but he's probably at his motel or whatnot. He might be back later this evening. I know no idea with that man."  
We were left alone in the hallways as Sheryl left to go back to whatever she had been doing before we arrived. Frank popped his head out of his bedroom besides Dwayne's.

"Glad you cared to join us," he smirked at Dwayne, who brushed off the comment.

Once we were alone in each other's company again, we stood there awkwardly. Finally I met his gaze.

We stared awkwardly at each other for a moment, before Dwayne averted his gaze and pulled me towards his bedroom. He quietly shut the door behind us.

I walked over to his bed, and perched myself on the edge.

"Dwayne," I said. "I know this is hard for you, but just remember you're not alone."

He slowly walked over and sat down beside me, pulling me into a tight hug. He buried his face in my thick hair.

"What did I ever do to deserve you? You're too good for someone like me."

"Dwayne," I said in a serious tone, while flopping back to lie down on his bed. "You're a great person and you really have to stop doubting that. You're different from other people both inside and out. And that's because you care. You're actually genuine and you mean what you say. You aren't fake like everyone else."

Dwayne didn't say anything. Instead he pulled me close, holding me in a tight hug.

I nestled into his warm chest. We stayed that way, cuddling for a long time. We only broke apart at the noise of the front door slamming.

"That must be my father," Dwayne growled, sitting up.

I placed a soft hand on his shoulder.

"Just be civil with him Dwayne. Maybe things won't be so bad then," I tried to suggest.

Slowly, I followed Dwayne out into the hallway. We came upon a man sitting in living room, completely sprawled out like he owned the place. Sheryl was standing anxiously in the doorway, wringing her wrists. The rest of the family was nowhere to be found.

"Oh Dwayne," Sheryl almost cried. "Why don't you… uh introduce Emily to your father. I have… something to do."

Mrs. Hoover hurried from the room, leaving Dwayne and I alone with his father.

"So this is your girlfriend huh?" the man asked Dwayne, completely ignoring me. Dwayne merely gave a slight nod of his head. Hiding his stormy eyes behind his dark bangs. "I didn't think someone like you could get a girl. But maybe she doesn't have high standards, you know."  
I let out a small huff at this, indignant at the way this man was acting.

The two continued to talk, Dwayne's father never short of ungracious side comments, especially towards me; no wonder the boy didn't care for his own father, he was a downright pig!

Finally the topic that had been clouding Dwayne's mind came up.

"So have you thought anymore about flight school Dwayne?"  
"I really don't know," Dwayne answered honestly.

"Well it's your dream, isn't it kid? I guarantee I could wriggle a way in for you. You'd just have to come live with ol' me. But you wouldn't mind spending some time with me would ya?"

He continued, since Dwayne remained silent. Turning towards me, and addressing me for the first time, he asked:  
"You wouldn't mind me having Dwayne for a while?"

I couldn't take it anymore. This man had pushed me to the end of my rope. I got up and stormed out of the Hoover residence, but not before I heard him say:

"What's her problem?" in his same sleezy voice.

I wasn't able to hear Dwayne's reply though, as I had already shut the door behind me and was running across the lawn.

I couldn't believe that someone could be so awful, especially to their own kin. It made me feel sick to my stomach.

I stayed in my room the rest of the day. That evening I decided to work on some sketches. I sat trying to perfect my latest drawing but gave up frustrated with it.

I flipped through my past drawings, finally looking over the one I had drawn of Dwayne in our hide-out at sunset. It then hit me that Dwayne had not stopped by at all to see how I was after storming out, he hadn't even called. He was not a very vocal person, but he was one to reach out to those he cared for.

I went over the next day to see Dwayne, but Sheryl answered the door saying that he had gone out with his father but that she would tell him I had been round. I figured he had gone out with his dad as common courtesy.

Dwayne didn't come by later though, and over the course of the next few weeks we didn't see much of each other. When we did, we never talked about his dad at all.

Dwayne seemed to be becoming more and more distant from me.

xXx

School had begun again, and the first week back was as stressing and hectic as ever. Already the teachers were loading on the workload, as it would be our final year of high school.

One day after school I was hanging out with Dwayne at his house. We were sitting on the edge of his bed, each flipping through a book and sketchbook respectively, when I finally decided to broach the subject of his father.

"So how are things with your dad?" I tried to say as casually as I could.

"Oh Terry? Things are great," Dwayne replied nonchalantly.

"Ok…" I said in a small voice.

Dwayne reached over, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear. He leaned in and pressed his lips against mine. As much as I just wanted to give in, I pushed him away.

"What?" he said before finally clueing in to what was bothering me.

"Look I apologize for him acting like a dick that day but he's not that bad ok?"  
"Ok," I replied with a sigh, turning my head to face him again.

Straight away, his lips were glued to mine. He pulled me back with him so we were lying side by side on the bed. One arm snaked around my waist, pulling me tightly against him while the other cupped my cheek. His lips worked against mine, as he slipped his tongue into my mouth.

Soon he had thrown his shirt off and was pulling my own off. It was so hard not to resist. Even though I was upset with Dwayne for trusting this asshole, I still loved him so strongly.

"Dwayne," I said, struggling to push him away. "Stop."

He pulled back, a hungry look in his eye that I had never seen before. "Is this about my dad again?" He continued before I got a chance to respond. "Well I gave the bastard a chance and he's not that bad once you get to know him."

He got up, standing away from the bed. I picked my shirt up off the floor and fumbled to put it back on.

"The few times I've been around him, he's seemed like a downright asshole. He doesn't care about anybody but himself!"  
"Well maybe it'd be nice to have a father figure in my life for once! Just because some people's parents aren't divorced doesn't mean everyone's lives are perfect? I thought you would know that!" Dwayne yelled at me.

"That's not what I meant!" I cried. Before I could continue to explain though, Dwayne pointed a stiff hand at the door. He didn't need to say anything, I could tell his mood from his smoldering eyes.

xXx

That was the first fight I ever really had with Dwayne.

This year at school we didn't see much of each other anymore. The main change being that I ate lunch in the cafeteria with my friends instead.

We were starting to drift apart from each other, and I knew that we could only continue to grow further apart.

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**Thank you again for reading!**

**Let me know you thought of this chapter! It would be greatly appreciated! :) Hopefully I can get the next chapter up soon, but I know I won't be able to get to it during the next week sadly since I'll be without a computer**

**Anyways, I hope the wait was worth it for this chapter! Please let me know!**


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